Blog

Hope this finds you well. Just thought I would drop a line or two about my “ other duties” category. I never thought taking a cat and dog to Alaska Air Cargo would be part of my work day.

We had some guests who were quite distressed about not being able to get their pets to the airport as the human guests were due to depart on the 5:00 flight and the pets were supposed to be on the 10:00 pm flight. So, with no hesitation, I volunteer. I guess I had no idea what it would entail.

So, I now have Mr. Kitty and Ripley the hyper dog in kennels in my office. Kitty meowing away and Ripley barking every time I leave the office.

Mr. Kitty walks very well on a leash but the laundry carts were loud and really scared him. Ursula was the only thing that scared the dog.

I could not believe it. She walked in the office and he just started growling away. Several other people had walked in and he did not nothing except wag his tail. I tried kicking Ursula out but she would not leave. Ripley kept growling. She finally walked out of the office and he stopped growling. No, she did not actually leave. She just stopped right outside my door and would stick her head in and he would growl again. I don’t think I have seen anything like it. I finally convinced her to leave.

Later, both of my drivers were very busy so I had to figure out how to get this huge kennel in my little car. It was just not going to happen. My front desk girl, Amanda volunteered her minivan. It took 3 bellman, myself, and Amanda to get the dog kennel into the van. Mr. Kitty was in his kennel after having scratched off half my arms. I drove off to AK Air Cargo. Halfway there I realized I would have a hard time getting the large kennel out of the van. I get to the counter, hand over pet passports, food, leashes and confirmation numbers. Back the van in, and had a nice young man help me get the kennel out of the van and onto a cart. Had to stop and get the leash off which meant manhandling the 108 pound dog back into the kennel.

By now I am completely covered in cat hair and dog hair. I would suggest not wearing black pants while transporting Pike's guests pets.

Back inside to get all paperwork finished, say goodbye and head back to work.

So, looking back on that, having to dry clothes for a Pike's guest whose luggage got wet at the airport and didn’t have any time to dry them before her dinner show and find a room when we were full for a guest that needed a certain type of chair to sleep in because he had bronchitis seemed like a walk in the park.

So, that is all for now. I will write later about my drive to Anchorage this past Saturday.